Restaurant owner on closure: 'The city isn't progressing'

Let's take a moment of silence to remember some of the restaurants — from Golden China and Blue Hawaii to Burger Tyme and Pancho's — that have closed over the years in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Megan Wyatt

As Ricardo Valerio prepares to close Urbano's Taco Bar, he has a message to the city that has given him so much.

"The city isn't progressing," Valerio said during a phone interview Thursday. "When you drive in this city after 11 p.m., the city is sleeping. There's nobody out there. The bars are open. The restaurants are open. But there aren't people there to support them. We're not going to keep Lafayette progressive if we don't support each other."

Valerio announced he was closing his second location of Urbano's in a Thursday Facebook post on the restaurant's page.

"Lafayette, thank you for your support and your love," he wrote. "But we have to say see you later."

Valerio opened Urbano's Taco Bar in 2014 at 2023 W. Pinhook Road. He opened a second location in 2015 at 2918 Johnston St.

The Pinhook location closed in February, and the Johnston location will close Thursday.

Valerio, who moved to Lafayette from Honduras to study at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, has considered opening his modern Mexican concept in another city.

"Do we bring our concept to Austin and be successful?" Valerio said. "Or do we stay here and be part of the community? I have family here. I have neighbors. I have friends. I'm not a Honduran person anymore. I'm from Lafayette, and this has been my home for the last 12 years. My heart belongs to Lafayette."